Tuesday, January 10, 2017

Connection

My work takes me on the road sometimes and as time passes, I find that I appreciate the comfort of home and most importantly the family (pets included) who resides there. I so enjoy their company, love, and support - at home and away.

There are also wonderful people I meet on my journeys - candid meetings with a fellow traveler, or a heartful exchange with someone doing their job. I love when interactions cause the other person smile. It's sweet to see their guard fall a bit when they or their work are complimented.

Whether at home with family or when travelling with strangers, the ability to connect is always there. In connecting with others, we connect more fully with ourselves. We are all worthy of connection, heart warming smiles, and appreciation. And that connection helps us maintain the humanity of our interactions, being the best person we can be in each moment.

Saturday, January 7, 2017

Perfect Imperfections

As I work with clients, family, and friends, many of us are looking to improve our life situations. While there is honor in working to make our lives or aspects of our lives better, I see a pattern of us missing the great things we have ongoing. And it's when we focus on the stuff we love or enjoy that we then bring in the energy to extend the already existing greatness or goodness to the areas in our lives where it is needed.

Sometimes, though, we resist where we are because we think whatever needs to be improved upon shouldn't be there or we don't want to deal with it. We may have a preconceived notion of what we "should" be dealing with as opposed to dealing with what life has dealt us. I'll let you in on a little secret - those imperfections are what make us perfectly us!

What's cool is that all these things we see as negatives in our lives - addictions, difficult jobs, unreliable car, inattentive spouses, being overweight, not having enough money, etc - they are all perfectly placed so we can reflect upon them, learn from them, and change them if change is in our power.

Earlier this week, I made a personal statement to focus on the good things in my life this year. And I challenge you to do the same. As a society we are trained to see what's wrong and fix it and in doing so, sometimes we miss all the wonderful things we have going on too.

If you initially find it tough to think of good things, start by focusing on some of the assumed good - food in your pantry, roof over your head, running water, clothes in your closet, etc.) It's about retraining our brain to see the good, and wow, is there a lot of good to be acknowledged. As we continue to practice this focus on good and great, we start to see problems as opportunities to grow or to be creative rather than allowing them to bring our spirits down.

We have so much good to be grateful for - including our perceived imperfections. We can support each other in seeing them as such and become accepting of perfect imperfect beings we are.

Tuesday, January 3, 2017

Purpose of Intention

We hear a lot about resolutions this time of year, however, intention is different from resolutions. I have seen people make and I myself have made resolutions periodically throughout the year, in many cases, as goals to be achieved over the course of time. For me, the practice and purpose of intention goes further than that and occurs on a minute-by-minute, day-by-day basis. For example, what is my intention for the day, my next meeting, the next meal, or next workout, etc? We are building or have the opportunity to build intentions in every part of our lives given our mindset and time to do so.

What intention or intentions do you bring to the table? How can your intention alter an otherwise assumed outcome of an event or interaction with someone?

Intention work is powerful because it brings us into the moment and into the driver's seat. What we do with the experience is obviously up to us.